Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All! I am new to the forum and have a question on the feeding of hatchling JCP. I was lucky enough to hatch out seven beautiful babies ( incubated by the mother!) on 5/10/03. I have them in separate containers in a rack system and am now becoming concerned in that they haven't eaten yet. I have tried twice to feed them newborn pinkies but they just ignore them. I havn't had them shed yet, so do I wait, or maybe force feed them? A little concerned as they are approaching two weeks old. Please help, any info or care sheet referances for hatchlings would be much appreciated! Thanks, Nick

hatchlings prefer bigger items than what your trying to feed them. Also I'm 99 percent sure that they don't eat until after there first shed. Someone will answer this with a more edjucated responce. In the meantime don't force feed them. BrianD

Brian, I believe you are correct, after the first shed...

Nick, have you tried "Braining" the pinkies yet? I think that's a good first step if they've already shed.. you may try prekilled as well, also give fuzzy's a try, I know some of my hatchlings wouldn't touch a pinkie, but responded very well to frozen/thawed fuzzies.
I had one that wouldn't eat for months, I had to force feed him twice, and then later I would assist him by (this is strange), placing the head of the fuzzy in his mouth, and just pushing it in far enough that his teeth would hold on to the fuzzy, he crawled around w/ it in his mouth for about a minute, and ate it no problem, I repeated the for several weeks w/o problem,
But, he still wouldn't eat on his own... I feed my larger carpets chicks, they have a hard time downing them with the head attached, so while frozen I just pop the head off and put them in another bag, ... I thawed some out one day, placed them in his cage, and he stuffed himself full, and eats well now,
I don't think a constant diet of chick heads is a good thing, but at least sparked some feeding in my colonies, so I feed chick heads every so often...
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Best Regards,
Cori
www.snakeroom.net

dont even consider force feeding....theyre hatchlings, most dont eat until after their first shed, which could take 10 days to weeks to months...toss the pinks unless youve got some hatchling colubrids...try pinky rats, or large fuzzy mice. carpet pythons dont like small prey, actually, ive yet to meet a hatchling python that liked smaller prey. carpets are well known for wanting larger prey as hatchlings. some also prefer to grab prey from above...ya know, snake on branch mouse on floor of cage. others prefer the opposite, some dont care, and some just want to be left alone over night...just dont force feed. aside from that good luck and try to get em on rats as soon as possible

Jay